Every productive classroom needs rules! This is how they are displayed in my
classroom. I use anagrams for a lot of
things around my room. The students seem
to remember things better this way.
This picture illustrates the importance of
collaboration in my classroom. Students
are arranged in heterogeneous groups and collaborate throughout the day in
order to foster a sense of community and cooperation.
Students
participate in learning stations (centers) while I pull students in small
groups. As long as you have rules and
procedures established this flows smoothly.
I
developed these vowel characters and the Story of Mother Vowel to help my first
and second graders distinguish between long and short vowel sounds and to
recognize vowel patterns within words.
This academic gallery was produced after an
artist/author study of Chris Van Allsburg in December. Students researched the life of the author
and used one of his illustrations to produce an original creative writing
piece.
We concluded our unit with a Polar Express Day
where students drank hot chocolate in their pajamas and read their favorite
Chris Van Allsburg stories to the class.
I use many graphic
organizers throughout the year in order to teach to mastery and assess
understanding. This is especially helpful to students in the primary grades
where concepts such as comparing and contrasting can be difficult to
understand.
The
T.A.P.E. method is used in both reading and writing to deepen understanding of
a text. The tier it up word webs are
used to increase vocabulary and comfort with writing “dangerous” words.
